


You're one in a crowd

by Spylace



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Animal Transformation, Community: pacificrimkink, Crack, Gen, Nobody is Dead, because I said so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-03
Updated: 2013-08-03
Packaged: 2017-12-22 06:56:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/910259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spylace/pseuds/Spylace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Guinea pig!Chuck is adorable. </p>
<p>Raleigh is somewhat hurt that no one asks him to babysit.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're one in a crowd

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the prompt: For some reason Chuck reminds me of a guinea pig. Take a look at this cutiepie (http://imgur.com/mvImzbT) and tell me you don't see the resemblance :D
> 
> (http://pacificrimkink.livejournal.com/350.html?thread=214622#t214622)

Raleigh thought of the Resistance as a dysfunctional family of sorts. Stacker was the obvious father-figure, ready to whip out a heart-rending speech when necessary. The supremely accomplished Herc Hansen poured all his paternal feelings into mothering everyone who was not his son. Tendo was this cool older brother he could only hope to imitate and not fail in a fiery blaze while the Kaidanovskys were these glamorous distant relatives who deigned to visit once a year to grace them with their dazzling presence.   
  
There was Mako, who was the sister he never had. Newton and Hermann who were both geniuses and would accomplish greater, better things if they just slowed down every once in a while. Then there was Chuck, the youngest, the brat, the baby of the family and currently a giant hamster.  
  
“Guinea pig” Mako corrected sternly as though that somehow changed the fact that their fellow ranger was now a different species. He looked cute, light blond all over like his hair except with a white mask extending down from his mouth like a little bib. And while Newt cowered before the wrath of Hercules Hansen and Stacker Pentecost combined, the Weis looked at him in delight. Apparently, Cheung had a pet rat once.   
  
“What happened to him?” Raleigh asked, more distracted by the fact that Mako was now making kissy noises at the pint-sized Chuck.   
  
“He died.” One of the Weis said matter-of-fact. Raleigh didn’t delude himself into thinking that he could tell a set of identical triplets apart.   
  
Mako swiftly covered Chuck’s ears, appalled.   
  
Shamefaced, the three explained that Cheung’s beloved pet had passed away from old age. Rodents as a rule did not live long lives. At this, Herc finally tore himself away from telling Newton exactly what he thought of experiments involving his son. Threatening to throw them to the next kaiju that made landfall if they didn’t figure it out by the end of the week, the Australian pilot gently scooped his hamster-son into his arms and stalked away.  
  
“You heard the man.” Stacker grunted, looking amused and pained all at once. “Get cracking.”

A day later they are treated to the sight of Max trotting at Herc’s heels with a ball of fuzz attached to his back, a distinct tan shape that can only be Chuck the hamster.   
  
“Guinea pig” Mako insisted though it was moot point as she proceeded to fall into a state of delirium brought on by Chuck’s cuteness.   
  
But as adorable as the scene was, it became clear that Max wasn't hamster-safe. While Max doesn’t treat his master like a chew toy, his love for Chuck has no bounds and forgets that he is only a two-pound rodent clinging tenaciously to his collar like a green jockey on a derby champion. After the fourth tumble which Mako commiserated and took too many photos of, Herc decided that his son needed to be carried.   
  
Chuck protested of course. It was bad enough that he was a guinea pig at the risk of being stepped on if he set a paw out of line, he did not need to be carried like a baby!   
  
But Herc poked his son on the head silencing his indecipherable squeaks.  
  
“Weren’t you the one who told me this is how you care for joeys?” The ranger chided.   
  
“Joey?” Mako asked.  
  
“Baby roos” Herc shrugged. “School field trip, they let him hold one in a pocket like this.”  
  
Mako was in awe. Inside the pouch, Chuck was warm and snug and content and Raleigh caught a fleeting expression of fondness across the older ranger’s face before he waved everyone off for crowding.   
  
-  
  
Whether Herc wanted to share the workload or humiliate his oldest friend, somehow Stacker was seen carrying Chuck in an open sling across his chest. When the Marshal unconsciously ran his knuckles over Chuck’s spine, the pilot-turned-guinea-pig flailed his hindquarters in delight, rolling over for a tummy rub.   
  
Clearing his throat, Stacker said gruffly “He’s a good kid when he’s not shooting his mouth off.”  
  
-  
  
No one even considered letting Raleigh touch him. When asked, Tendo simply said that they didn’t think he was interested. 

In fact, Herc even tried to fob off his son on the Kaidanovskys when Striker Eureka was deployed to the field, ignoring Raleigh who was standing there right next to him, very much available since Gypsy Danger was getting her left leg reattached and they didn't let him near paperwork anymore. Chuck squeaked unhappily when he was taken out of his little pouch, placed in Sasha’s hardened hands like something more precious than gold.   
  
“Just until we get back yeah?” Herc pleaded desperate, looking like he was promising his firstborn—oh wait he was—to the devil.   
  
“Very well” Sasha conceded, softening her icy stance to examine Chuck on all sides for possible diseases. “He will be good for practice.”  
  
Practice for what? Raleigh wondered. Shooting? Extermination? Just as Chuck was thrust against the Russian pilot’s impressive cleavage.  
  
Herc let out a wheeze as though it hurt to breathe. Stacker grabbed his shoulder to steady him.   
  
Sasha turned around.   
  
“Come Aleksis,” she purred to her giant of a husband. “I think Chazka is hungry.”   
  
-  
  
The thing was that Raleigh was kind of jealous. A lot jealous. Not of Chuck, though he wouldn’t say no to Sasha Kaidonovsky so to speak, but it was like pulling teeth admitting that he wanted a turn with the little sucker.   
  
He and Yancy never had a pet growing up. Lack of funds, lack of enthusiasm on his parent’s part, and after they became Jaeger pilots, lack of time. Their sheer inadequacy as a pet owner reached its peak around the time Yancy killed a rare cactus a fan posted him by overwatering it until it turned into sludge.   
  
Pets and Beckets did not mix. Except, Chuck Hansen the wonder hamster was so damningly cute. Anything that would have had people wanting to strangle him as human seemed like those cat videos on what survived of the internet.   
  
Even Hermann was smitten and the good doctor never interrupted his work for anything other than a complicated algorithm involving the Jaeger’s AI or his pet theory on the doomsday event.   
  
It was just cruelly unfair that no one would let him take Chuck.

“You are lucky I did not put ribbons on you.” He heard Mako say as she put away her things and laced her boots.   
  
He knocked on the door. It made her jump and he held up a hand.  
  
“Hey, it’s me.”  
  
Max was at her foot of her bed, panting in welcome.   
  
Chuck however, ran in circles clicking his teeth, a distinctly unwelcome sound.  
  
“Raleigh” She said warmly. “What are you doing here?”  
  
“Couldn’t sleep.” He admitted. “Figured I could come and see what you were up to.”  
  
“Chuck and I were about to go to bed.”  
  
“Oh”  
  
Mako narrowed her eyes. “But perhaps you could take him.” She said. “Chuck has problems sleeping some nights as well.”  
  
“Really?” He asked hopefully, tugging on the sleeves of his hoodie. “I mean... sure.”  
  
Chuck turned to glare at her like she was a traitor.  
  
“Take Max with you.” Mako added after a thought.   
  
“I’m not going to do anything to him.” Raleigh said, a bit stung.   
  
“Oh” his co-pilot replied as though the thought had never passed through her mind. “Max is for your protection.”  
  
-  
  
“What’s so great about a giant, tail-less rat anyway?” He asked no one in particular as the guinea pig chomped down on a stick of still-green celery. Chuck gashed his teeth threateningly, his adorable little claws wrapped around his prize. When he was done, he kicked the remainder into Max’s waiting jowls making sure that his dog ate all his greens.   
  
“You’re _cute_.” Raleigh managed. Maybe the drift was taking hold of him. He wasn’t this much of a sap back in Alaska, building a wall that didn’t do shit. He poked Chuck in the belly which made the younger pilot, honest to god, scowl at him with his button black eyes. “Maybe you’ll be stuck this way huh?”  
  
Chuck bit him.  
  
-  
  
Let the records show that Raleigh managed to one up on his dead brother as an incompetent pet owner.   
  
Somehow in the short interval between the kitchen, cursing and stifling his screams, he swore it hurt less when Snakehead punched through Gypsy’s armor, and the infirmary to get stitches, _stitches_ , for his bleeding finger, he lost Chuck.   
  
He begged Max for help. Waved Mako’s Hello Kitty bag in front of the dog’s nose but all he got was a doggy grin. Since his co-pilot was the one who was supposed to be taking care of the downsized Australian, he couldn’t exactly go up to anyone and tell them he’d lost Chuck.  
  
Raleigh sank to his knees in a silent heart attack, all but rocking back and forth with his knees tucked to his chin.   
  
He knew what the younger man meant to Mako. Despite the short fight they had outside Stacker’s office, Chuck cared for her and in turn, she cared for him.   
  
Mako was going _kill_ him.   
  
No, wait, Herc would kill him first, use some obscure assassination technique he learned from fighting Australian wildlife and everyone else would stand in line for their turn.   
  
Hell, the Weis might be pissed enough to step on him with Crimson Typhoon.   
  
The image made him giggle.  
  
Raleigh spent all night looking for Chuck and when dawn broke, when even Max collapsed at his feet snoring, he stood awake dazed, looking for the talented moron that had everyone in the Hong Kong Shatterdome, everyone that mattered anyway, wrapped around his tiny paw.   
  
He felt sick. There was a sudden flash.  
  
“Mako” He rasped, licking his dry lips. “What are you doing?”   
  
His co-pilot edged guiltily from behind her camera.   
  
Silent, she pointed to his back where a heavy weight had settled. The weight of _failure_ on top of everything else, the weight of Chuck napping smugly inside his wool-lined hood.   
  
Chuck looked annoyed at being woken up.  
  
Raleigh had no words for how much he wanted to strangle him. The guinea pig shook his whiskers and gave him a cheeky look.   
  
“Why you little...”   
  
Newton sprinted in just then, saving Chuck’s life and possibly his as well.   
  
“Guys! I found the cure!!”  
  
-  
  
Chuck woke up, human, alive, no extra appendages or unfortunate patches of fur, and everyone else breathed a sigh of relief.   
  
Newt stood by holding a pad and a pencil, eager to decipher the ranger’s experiences as a fuzzy, little rodent.  
  
“Nah” Chuck shook his head. “Don’t recall much. Hamster brains are tiny.” He grinned impishly as his father handed him his bomber jacket. “But I do remember certain someone losing me in the last few...”  
  
Raleigh gulped.


End file.
